"The Scandinavian country of just 5.4 million people sees its economic future not in oil and gas, but in the transition to clean energy and sustainable technologies. This shift is in turn helping drive its proptech sector."That was the conclusion of Commercial Observer's article on our recent proptech delegation to New York.
In late November, we brought 20 real estate executives and proptech founders to New York City to exchange ideas and innovations from each country. Proptech Innovation, Innovation Norway and The Royal Norwegian Consulate in New York co-hosted the visit.
Exclusive Proptech Mini Summit At The Consulate
Here are some key takeaways from the Mini Summit held at The Consulate towards the end of the delegation:
💡"US proptech companies sprung from the world's leading venture capital and innovation culture. Their Norwegian counterparts, on the other hand, were built on top of a strong digital infrastructure; innovation hungry real estate companies; and strong minds from a recovering oil industry", said Norway's General Consul, Heidi Olufsen.
🤜🤛The Consulate, along with Innovation Norway and The Norwegian-American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. act as warm, welcoming hubs and hotspots for connecting Norwegian companies with American stakeholders. Signe Astrid Engli, Pia Thorvik Marks, Hege Vibeke Barnes, Antonio (Tony) Raposo, Philip Russo.
🐴Notable speakers like John Petinos of New York City Economic Development Corporation, Nikki Greenberg of Real Estate of the Future, Fraser Patterson of labor recruiting tool Skillit, and Amina Moreau of collaborative workspace marketplace added notes on how to plan for a high-tech, low-certainty future in real estate.
🚧The Consul General of Sweden, Camilla Mellander, pointed out that 70% of New York’s emissions come from buildings - compared to 40% globally.
🤑Not your typical investors: Proptech VC pioneers Heather McGeory of Fifth Wall and Zander Geronimos of MetaProp showed how American VCs act as innovation hubs and strategic advisors for their real estate partners.
🚀Our Nordic brother Konrad Szczęsny of Stockholm Business Region presented a new report showing that Sweden and Norway leads the global pack in relative proptech innovation and investing.💎And rounding off the evening, Norwegian proptech gems Powerpal, Defigo, RockSlice AS and laiout wowed the crowd and demonstrated again that Norwegian proptechs are technologically advanced relative to their funding stage. However, they often lack the necessary risk growth capital at home to scale faster. Main learning point from US investors: «Learn to shout from the rooftops, and always have an ask!».
Creating Long-Term Technology For Real Estate
🏗️"Real estate lasts a hundred years, technology thirty seconds», said Luke Falk, SVP of Related Companies, which let others commercialize its proprietary tech for the insane Hudson Yards New York neighborhood.
🏊 "Residents will pay for services like grocery delivery and cleaning,but seldom all the amenities they first said they wanted, like pools and gyms", said Christian Bjelland, founder of Alfred.
🌴"Green bonds usually go to companies already in the sustainability field," said Columbia University professor Christopher Munsell on the limited snowball effect of green financing.
🙏 Kristin Svenningsen for the tour of the beautiful Manhattanville Campus.
👷♂️«Skilled labor shortage is the single largest inhibitor to growth in real estate», said MetaProp founder Zach Aarons.
💡«Not often you get the chance to own a whole New York neighborhood», said Nina Galbiati of Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages $55 billion in real estate investments, including 600.000 square meters in 13 downtown Manhattan buildings. With Sarah Jancot MRICS 🙏
🍃The fear of stranded assets fuels the proptech revolution, «but nuclear energy still has a PR problem and natural gas has a big future in the real estate energy mix here», said Evan W. Uhlick, SVP & Head of Energy at DNB.
🌆"Norwegian aluminum will continue to coat New York's highrises as climate regulations increase in impact", said @paul walker of Norsk Hydro's US 'subsidiary'.
😶🌫️Nordic real estate companies lead their American peers in integrating decarbonization into their long-term strategies, but the US catching up as the road to green premiums becomes clear.
💡Government involvement works well at Newlab at Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation - home to 250 deep tech startups and 1,000 entrepreneurs and investors 🙏to Parker Magness for the tour, Tiya Gordon of itselectric and Tristan Bell of VC URBAN-X for inspiring talks.
🏔️Snøhetta is building the low-rise Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library AND Zero House at Harvard University - testing 16 facility management systems en route to zero emissions.
